Note 2 — Chapter I · FROM CHʽANG-GAN TO THE SANDY DESERT.
James Legge translation
The period Hwăng-che embraced from A.D. 399 to 414, being the greater portion of the reign of Yâo Hing of the After Tsʽin, a powerful prince. He adopted Hwăng-che for the style of his reign in 399, and the cyclical name of that year was Kăng-tsze. It is not possible at this distance of time to explain, if it could be explained, how Fâ-hien came to say that Ke-hâe was the second year of the period. It seems most reasonable to suppose that he set out on his pilgrimage in A.D. 399, the cycle name of which was Ke-hâe, as 二, the second year, instead of 一, the first, might easily creep into the text. In the ‘Memoirs of Eminent Monks’ it is said that our author started in the third year of the period Lung-gan of the eastern Tsin, which was A.D. 399.